21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:21-24 (NIV)

Jesus said to the woman at the well that a “time is coming” when worship will no longer be a matter of location. Not only is it coming, he said “it has come.” Most often in this passage we rightfully focus on what it means to worship “in spirit and in truth,” but reflect for a moment on what follows: “they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” We typically  equate our worship with seeking after the presence of God. Jesus said that God is seeking after us. God is not waiting on us to find him; he is seeking after us. He is not, in Jesus own words, seeking worship but worshipers. Whatever else it may mean, a personal relationship with God at is at the center of “spirit and truth.”

Here’s a great quote from John Maxwell, “Man does not live by bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.” The need for encouragement, for positive affirmation in our lives and our relationships cannot be overstated.  Social scientists study something called the positivity/negativity ratio (P/N). Studies consistently demonstrate that for teams of people who work together there is a direct relationship between the P/N ratio and team performance. More positive reinforcement equals higher performance. More negativity equals poorer performance. Others have found that marriages with a ratio of 5:1 (5 positive statements for every every one negative statement) flourish while whose with ratios less than 1 (more negative than positive) most often end in divorce.

It takes willful and directed effort to keep the ratio where it needs to be in our relationships. There is something in all of us that tends to default to negativity and criticism if we aren’t mindful about it. And, let’s be honest, we also can heap negativity on ourselves just as easily as we pour it on others. In the New Testament Barnabas was known as the “son of encouragement.” It will serve us all well to be a Barnabas in our marriages, in raising our children,  in our workplace, in our church family and in our community. Join us this coming Sunday as we learn about “The Encouragement App.”

PS – This coming Sunday, 10/30/11, is the day when our Sunday worship times are changing to 9 & 11 A.M.

]]> http://firstcitychurch.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/the-encouragement-app-10-30-11/feed/ 0 firstcitychurch http://firstcitychurch.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/the-trust-app-10-23-11/ http://firstcitychurch.wordpress.com/2011/10/17/the-trust-app-10-23-11/#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:16:51 +0000 First City Church http://firstcitychurch.wordpress.com/?p=63 Continue reading →]]> Shakespeare’s play “All’s Well that Ends Well” opens with young Bertram assuming the title of Count of Rossillion following the death of his father. Bertram asks his mother for advice and she shares the following with him:

Be thou blest, Bertram, and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee, and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright!
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none . . .

This Sunday, 10/23, we’ll be considering the importance of trust.; trust is an essential element of strong and healthy relationships. Trust is critical in our marriages, our families, even in our business and work relationships. Faith and trust are the basis of our relationship with God. So, did the countess have it right? Are we best off only trusting a select few or is there another way? Come and join us as we seek God’s wisdom on the matter of trust.

From the very beginning, in the Genesis creation story, God gave priority to the importance of rest . . . on the seventh day God rested from his labor. Come and join us this week we seek God’s wisdom about the importance of rest. And then go home and have a good Sunday afternoon nap!

If you browse some of these sites and read the online confessions that have been posted (don’t recommend this as many of the seem to be R rated and beyond) it is clear that folks are wanting to confess but not many seem very interested in changing their behavior. They want absolution without the repentance that leads to a changed life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship is a timeless warning about the dangers of this:

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like a cheapjack’s wares.  The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut-rate prices.  Grace is represented as the Church’s inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits.  Grace without price; grace without cost!  And the essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing.  Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite.  What would grace be, if it were not cheap?   . . .  In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin . . .  Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.  Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as it was before.         Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, (it is) baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.  Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 

This coming Sunday we’ll continue our study of Life Applications, focusing on the importance of the Confession App. We’ll see that the goal of confession is not a clear conscience, but a changed life. Genuine confession leads to genuine change.

The Forgiveness App: Forgiven People Forgive

Don Henley wrote a great lyric:
I’ve been tryin’ to get down to the heart of the matter,
But my will gets weak, and my thoughts seem to scatter,
But I think it’s about forgiveness, forgiveness,
Even if, even if you don’t love me anymore.

Life and relationships are at times messy, complicated, painful, disappointing, hurtful, aggrieving and all the rest. Michael Stipes said it this way, “everybody hurts sometime.” It’s a part of the human experience. We’ve all been hurt, wronged, let down and treated unfairly. And, let’s be honest, we’ve all done it to someone else. But the real heart of the matter is what we do with the hurt and disappointment.

We can nurse it into a grudge, resentment and ultimately a desire for revenge. Sometimes we secretly hold it inside; sometimes we go public. Either way, it doesn’t get any better but instead tightens its hold, robbing us of life and joy and never allowing us to move on. We become stuck in time, consumed by the moment of our injury.

Paul wrote this to the believers in Rome (Romans 12:17-21):
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (NIV)

There is an app for those who’ve been hurt and it’s called forgiveness. The forgiveness and grace that we have found in Christ call us to extend grace and forgiveness to others. We only dig the hole deeper when we repay evil for evil. Forgiveness is always the way forward.

“There’s an app for that!” Seems like everyone has an app for everything. But, rather than something for your smartphone, what if there were life apps that would make life easier, more rewarding, that would nurture healthy relationships? Long before the iLife,  the scriptures revealed God’s wisdom and design for an abundant life.

We’ll be talking about five specific life applications or practices Christians are called to embrace as a part of their lifestyle:
The Forgiveness App
The Confession App
The Rest App
The Trust App
The Encouragement App

This Sunday, 9/25: Application is Everything

James 1:22-25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it– he will be blessed in what he does. (NIV)

Matthew 7:24-25 Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. (NIV)

The lesson is straightforward and true: we must use the app to get the benefit. Application is everything!

Every third Sunday FCC provides the evening meal at the Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen. And every month it is a blessing for all who come together, for those who eat and for those who serve. Those who eat receive a home cooked meal, a “goody bag” which contains personal toiletries, socks and some sweet treats, a bag lunch for the next day and clothing items are also available for those who need them. For those who serve there is the blessing of seeing men, women and children enjoy the meal, the joy of being part of a serving community. For both groups, those who eat and those who serve, there is the blessing of connection and shared conversation, of new friendships and relationships. If you think about it, there aren’t really two groups . . . for a couple of hours every Sunday evening we are one family.

Emerald Coast Hospice invites you to join them for Grief Journey- a non-judgmental group for anyone who is experiencing a loss. The process of grieving is hard work, please don’t do it alone. Let us help each other on the journey.

Grief Journey is offered free of charge and is open to the public. The group will meet on Thursday afternoons beginning September 22 and ending October 27 from 2 to 3:30PM at 1555 N. Palafox Street. Please call 438-2201 to RSVP.